What's Cool, What's Hot

This is a great look. This Ford has virtually no body mods, uses a classy two-tone paint job, and throws in some very modern big-inch wheels.

One thing that’s always a hit is flames. You can cover up bad bodywork (or paint) or simply turn a plain ol’ truck into a screaming hot rod. This is a graphic trick that has stood the test of time.

You just can’t miss with a ’56 Ford F-100 pickup. Keep all the trim, door handles, bumpers, and so forth, or get rid of all of it. Either way it looks good. A modern running gear, however, is essential.

Perry Siebert Jr. took this ’48 Chevy to the extreme with total street-rod-type modifications. It’s a beautiful truck, but you don’t have to go this far to be in style.

Look inside the engine compartment of a classic truck and chances are a small-block Chevy is providing the power. It’s just too simple a swap to ignore.

After a few years of screaming bright colors, the more subdued hues are becoming popular. Blacks, dark blues, dark greens, and more are being used on the nicest show trucks. It just drives photographers nuts.

A Ford 9-inch rearend with leaf-spring suspension is the most common combination in classic truck work. It works. It’s simple.

No, no, no, no, no! This is what truck interiors used to look like! Not anymore. They’re all street- rodded out with fancy materials and big-buck workmanship. Well, not all of them are that way. A lot of trucks have a new seat and a carpet kit.

Oddball beds have been popping up at shows across the country. Flatbeds, stake beds, tilt beds, late-model beds, plexiglass clear bed floors, and more.

The ’55-’57 Chevy trucks are extremely popular. Fleetsides (smooth-side beds) are getting to be just as popular as the Stepsides. Cameos are still as rare as a hen’s tooth.

More and more truck owners mount their tires with the raised white letters facing in. Fill up the fender with lots of tire, and you will never miss with Halibrand wheels. Wide whitewall tires are making a comeback with steelie wheels. Just don’t use narrow whitewall tires.

A huge, huge, huge trend is doing as much of the work yourself as possible, both for the pride and the cost savings. The owner of this beautiful ’53 Suburban, Tom Ulrich, has won all kinds of awards, but he spent less than the cost of a used late-model pickup—considerably less.

Classic trucks have become so popular in the past few years that it’s almost like an explosion. Everywhere you look you can find old pickups in a variety of conditions. With the increased interest in restoring and modifying these old trucks come some trends that lead the field. Many want to catch on to the latest trend and be current. Others want to avoid trends like the plague and go their own way. That’s fine. We’re not snooty enough to suggest you have to build your truck one particular way to get attention. But if you’d like a little help in figuring out what direction to go with your project, we just may be able to help you out. Hey, if you don’t agree with our observations of current styling trends, that’s OK. Just don’t take it as an insult because none is intended. Here’s the rundown.

Body Styles

The ’53-’56 Ford F-100 pickups are still the most coveted of the old trucks. The big-window ’56 is probably the ultimate in cool. Next on the list are the ’55-’57 Chevy trucks. Then there are the ’48-’54 Chevy trucks. The ’40-’41 Ford pickups are highly revered but hard to find and much more expensive to build than the others. The ’67-’72 Chevy pickups are hot as can be. They’re new enough to have air conditioning, independent front suspension, disc brakes, automatic transmission, power brakes, and more, but they’re old enough to look cool. Off-brand trucks such as the Dodges, Studebakers, International Harvesters, and the like have seen a whole lot more attention recently. But even with twice as many of these trucks being built in the past couple of years, we’re talking about maybe 5 percent of the market.

Body Mods

You’ll see a frenched antenna or a remote gas door on most nice trucks, but body mods are not as important as some would believe. You do not need to chop, channel, section, pie-cut, and wedge your truck to get attention. There’s not a big movement to completely change the way classic trucks look.

Engines

Ford has made a lot of inroads into the hot-rod market. The Put A Ford In Your Ford campaign has made an impact, but the fact remains that it’s harder to use a Ford engine. IFS crossmembers are usually designed for a Chevy engine, making it very hard to fit a Ford. You often have to swap oil pans and pumps. The bottom line is that a majority of people use a Chevy 350. It’s relatively cheap, plentiful, and people understand it.

Transmissions

Automatics all the way. Even though we’re talking about trucks, the majority of owners are looking for an easy drive. The Chevy 350 and 400 are the standards of the hot-rod industry, but the overdrive-equipped 700-R4 has just about become the standard. Early reports of failures seem to have disappeared as the trans companies figured out how to make this tranny work in a street-rod atmosphere.

Rearends

Is there anything but a Ford 9-inch rearend? Seems like there’s not, but the Ford 8-inch rearend works just fine up to about 500 hp. And those Chevy 12-bolts aren’t too shabby. Everyone just likes to say they have a 9-inch in their trucks, because that’s the in thing.

Front Suspension

Independent front suspension is clearly the desired front suspension. Aftermarket kits dominate the industry. Camaro (and likewise) clips are the popular choice for low-buck do-it-yourselfers. A few people stick with the stock suspension or install a dropped axle, but it’s a fraction of the total. The reality is that a lot of truck projects die on the vine after a front-end graft. The rest of the work is sometimes too much to handle. A lot more trucks would be on the road if the owners just converted to disc brakes and got everything else in order. IFS can be added later in the program.

Rear Suspension

Leaf springs all the way. Trick four-links and such are great, but nothing beats the ruggedness and simplicity of leaf springs. With aftermarket companies making springs for any amount of lowering and better ride comfort, it’s an easy swap.

Graphics

This goes in two directions. The absence of graphics is still very popular. A clean classic truck can’t be beat. On the other hand, some really great- looking two-tone paint schemes with pinstriping have been catching a lot of attention during the past year or so. The truly outrageous, multi-layered graphics that were popular in the ’80s are showing up less and less. That doesn’t mean you’ll be shunned if you decide to go that direction. It’s just that you may date your truck with the paint job.

Tires

The street-rod world has influenced trucks in this area. No longer do truck owners run the same sized tires in the front and back with lots of sidewall showing. The big-’n’-littles theory applies to trucks too. While raised white-letter tires are still popular, more truck owners are mounting their rubber with the black wall showing. It de-emphasizes the brand of the tire a little and keeps the focus on the truck.

Wheels

Big variance here. Lots of owners are staying with the wild billet wheels, but more and more are trying the old-time look of steel wheels with trim rings or baby Moons hubcaps. Hey, we’re even starting to see some spoked wheels again. They were very popular in the ’70s but looked oddly out of place in the ’80s and early ’90s. Now they seem cool again. Hey, there’s a cycle to style. Gold plating, however, is out of style. Big time.

Interior

The trend for nice trucks is a fully dressed-out interior similar to a street rod. The headliner, area behind the seat, doors, kick panels, floor, seat, and dash are all integrated for a slick, almost factory look. This is expensive so a lot of practical people simply throw in a nice late-model seat and a carpet kit and they’re done with it.